Care workers, care consumers and advocates will march on 20 U.S. cities next Tuesday, demanding the White House and Congress invest in the nation’s care economy as a matter of racial and gender justice. Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and Washington, D.C., are among the cities where thousands of home care workers will protest.
The demonstrators are demanding Congress back a $400 billion investment in the care economy the Biden administration is seeking in an infrastructure plan. Last month, a bipartisan group of senators cut the care economy from a compromise bill on infrastructure that could be voted on by the full Senate in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile congressional Democrats have introduced a separate bill — the Better Care Better Jobs Act (BCBJA) — which includes many of the provisions the Biden administration laid out in its infrastructure plan. BCBJA increases the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) by 10% over 10 years, provides better reimbursement rates to providers and supports better wages and career opportunities to care workers.
“Before us is a tremendous opportunity our nation can’t afford to lose: President Biden has listened to home care workers and proposed a $400 billion investment in home-and-community-based service,” Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Mary Kay Henry said.
SEIU estimates 87% of the nation’s 2.3 million home care workers are women and approximately two-thirds are people of color.
